Method of producing multiple sheet glazing units



Nov. 25, 1958 J. A WOODS 2,861,398

METHOD OF PRODUCING MULTIPLE SHEET GLAZING UNITS Filed.April 27, 1953 fig. a

3m entor W42 4 (Wood/L & Bu iode Gttornegg;

United States METHOD OF PRODUCING MULTIPLE SHEET GLAZIN G UNITS John A. Woods, Toledo, Ohio, assignor to Libbey-Owens- Ford Glass Company, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Application April 27, 1953, Serial No. 351,299

8 Claims. (Cl. 49-82) This invention relates broadly to the productionof multiple sheet glazing units. More particularly, it relates to an improved method for producing multiple sheet glazing units having two or more superimposed air spaces enclosed therebetween.

Multiple sheet glazing units may be described generally as comprising two or more spaced sheets of glass which are sealed together entirely around their marginal edge portions to enclose hermetically sealed dead air spaces therebetween. Due principally to their insulating and condensation preventing qualities, such units.

have become well established fixtures in the building trades and have found wide usage as windows for buildings, show cases, vehicles, refrigerators, and the like.

It has been proposed to form multiple sheet glazing units entirely of glass by causing the edge portions of the spaced sheets to be sealed directly to one another. For example, in a copending application, now abandoned, Serial No. 309,884, filed July 25, 1952, by John A. Woods et al. and assigned to the assignee of this application, there is disclosed a method for producing a multiple sheet glazing unit in which a pair of space-d sheets of glass are sealed directly together around their marginal edge portions to enclose a single air space therebetween. According to the method disclosed therein, one sheet of glass is supported in fixed spaced and superimposed relation above another sheet and the marginal edge portions of said spaced sheets are moved past impinging flames which cause said edge portions to be bent into fused relation With one another.

It will be understood, however, that generally as the number of superimposed sheets or panes of the unitand consequently the number of air spaces enclosed therebetweenare increased, the insulating and condensation preventing qualities are likewise raised. Of course, these qualities are also dependent on the size of the unit, the air space therebetween, as well as the condition of the air within said space. However, it has been found that while the two pane, single air space units are generally satisfactory when used as windows for buildings, vehicles, and the like, they do not always prove satisfactory under more severe applications. That is, for example, in the case of windows for refrigerators and the like, wherein the temperature differential at opposite sides of the units may reach relatively large pro-portions, it has frequently'been found necessary to provide glazing units having a plurality of spaced panes which enclose two or more superimposed air spaces.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide an improved method for producing all-glass, multiple sheet glazing units of the type described having two or more superimposed air spaces therebetween.

It is another object of this invention to provide a method of producing multiple sheet glazing units of the type described in which three or more superimposed sheets are sealed together entirely around their edge portions by flames impinging thereon.

2,861,398 Patented Nov. 25, 1958 Still another object of this invention is to provide a method of producing multiple sheet glazing units of the type described in which three or more sheets are mounted in superimposed and fixed spaced relation and the edge portions thereof are moved past impinging flames for causing said edge portions to bend into fused relation with one another.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent during the course of the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

According to this invention, three or more sheets of glass are mounted on a supporting tray or rack in fixed spaced and superimposed relation one above the other. The supporting tray is then moved continuously through a furnace having concentrated heat sources in the form I of burner elements disposed along one or both sides thereof. While so moving through said furnace, the tray is caused to be aligned with said burner elements so as to sequentially align the edge portions of the superimposed sheets with respect to impinging flames from said burner elements in a predetermined manner while moving therepast. The edge portions of each of said sheets, in moving past said impinging flames, are caused thereby to bend into fused relation with the edge portions of the sheet directly superimposed therebeneath to seal the edge portions of each of said sheets together substantially simultaneously.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a three sheet, double air space glazing unit produced in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of an edge portion of the unit, taken substantially along the broken line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional View of a tray apparatus for supporting the sheets of the unit prior to and during the edge sealing thereof; and i Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view of the burner element shown in phantom in Fig. 3.

Referring now in particular to the above described drawings, there is shown in Fig. 1 a three sheet, double air space glazing unit, designated in its entirety by the numeral 1% and including spaced glass sheets 11, 12, and

". 13, the edge portions of which are sealed directly to one another by side portions 14 and 15. As will be explained more fully hereinafter, these side portions 14' and 15 are formed from edge portions of the adjacent sheets. As shown in Fig. 2, the glass sheets 11, 12 and 13 and side portions 14 and 15 enclose therebetween two superimposed air spaces 16 and 17. Dehydration.

holes 18 and 19 may be formed toward a corner or edge of the outermost sheets 11 and 13, respectively, for a purpose well known in the art.

According to this invention and as shown in Fig. 3, prior to the sealing of the edges thereof directly together, the sheets 11, 12 and 13 are mounted in fixed spaced and horizontally disposed face-to-face relation. The upper most sheet 11 is slightly larger than the intermediate sheet 12, while the latter is in turn correspondingly larger than the lowermost sheet 13. Thus, at each side of the assembled group of spaced sheets, the edge portions of each successive lower sheet project slightly inwardly from those of the sheet immediately thereabove.

Of course, the exact amount of projection in each case will depend principally upon the desired thicknesses of the air spaces. 16 and 17 between the sheets. In some tion to follow that the aforementioned relationship of 4 1 3 the projecting edge portions of the superimposed sheets will be constant.

The sheets 11, 12 and 13 are assembled in their fixed spaced, relation upon a generally. rectangular supporting tray. which is, in many respects, similar to thesheet supporting apparatus disclosedin the aforementioned copending application of Woods et al. This tray includes a lower rim 21 connected to an upper rim 22 by struts 23: Thelowerrim 2} of the tray is adapted to be moved through a furnace (not shown) over a conveyor means 24, and the upper rim 22 is adapted to support the edge portions. of the lowermost sheet 13. Braces, such as 25, may be provided laterally of the upper rim to support the central portions of the lowermost sheet in substan tially fiat position Bearings 26 are secured to the struts 23 at each side of the tray 2i) to rotatably support finger members 27. Each of the finger members 27 is provided with ledges 28 at its inner end for supporting the edge portions of the intermediate sheet 12 and uppermost sheet 11, These ledges are formed instep fashion so that each not only supports its respective sheet edge portion but also centers the same with respect to the tray 29 and the other assembled sheets. Of course, the elevation of each ledge 28 will depend on the desired spacing between adjacent sheets.

Thus, it can be seen that prior to the edge sealing thereof; the three glass sheets 11, 12 and 13 may be assembled in fixed spaced and face-to-face relation, in which each sheet is supported at its edge portions and all are centrally arranged in superimposed relation. In being moved through the furnace over the conveyor means 24, the tray 20 is caused to be properly aligned with and moved past burner elements 29 disposed along one or both sides of the furnace. In this manner, impinging flames from the burner elements are caused to be played along the edge portions of the glass sheets supported on the tray and moving therepast so as to cause said edge portions to be sealed together, in accordance with the novel method of this invention.

To be more specific, means (not shown) may be provided for aligning the movement of the tray in the desired manner with respect to the burner elements 29. For example, ali ning means may be provided in connection with the burner elements themselves, similar to that disclosed in the aforementioned copending application. Altern tively, aligning means may be provided independent- IV of the burner elements, in a manner, for exam le. as disclo ed in my couending application. Serial No. 339,229, fi ed February 27. 1953, and assigned to the assignee of the p esent application.

Additionally. means (not shown) may be provided at a suitable location along the furnace for removing the finger elements 27 for each edge portion of the glass sheets to a non-supporting position just prior to the movement of said ed e portions past the impinging flames from the burner elements 29. For this purpose, each of the finger members is provided with a knock-out arm 29' which is ada ted to be engaged by the aforementioned means just prior to the movement of said finger member past said burner element so as to rotate said finger elementto a non-supporting position.

As previously mentioned, the burner elements 29 may be disposed along one or both sides of the furnace. Thus,

during movement of the tray 20 through said furnace, opposite edge portions of the assembled glass sheets may be'either sequentially or simultaneously sealed together. In either case, however, after a first pair of opposite edge portions of the sheets have been scaled together, the tray is oriented in any suitable manner and the operation re peated for the other opposite pair. .Thus, it will be understood that during the entire edge sealing operation,

- 4 lowermost sheet 13 by either the'finger members 27 or the just sealed edge'portions. 1

For the purpose of causing flames to be impinged upon the edge portions of the glass sheets when aligned with and moved past the burner elements 29, each of said burner elements is provided with upper, intermediate and lower rows of aligned nozzlesfit), 31 and 32, respectively. According to the novel method of this, invention, the upper row is arranged: soas. to direct flames therefrom along astraight line I substantially verticallyonto the.

edge portions of the glasssheets. The intermediaterow 31, on the other hand, is arranged in a plane at about 30 to the vertical, and the lower row 32 in a plane at about 60. to. the'vertical. Thus, as shown inEig. 3, the flames from the upper row 30, are approximately aligned with the edge of the lowermost sheet 13, while the flames from each of the intermediate and lower rows of nozzles 31 and32 are directed angular-1y toward the. edges of the the uppermost and intermediate sheets 11 and 12 are at all times maintained in properly spaced relation above intermediate sheet 12: and lowermost. sheet 13, respectivclyu no er snr he mss mm. Pr PQ ozzles- 30 will first cause the edge portions of the upper sheet 11 to become softened and bend downwardly onto those of the intermediate sheet 12. Substantially simultaneous; ly, the edge porti ons of the intermediate sheet are caused by the intermediate row of nozzles 31 to sag downwardly onto those of the lowermost sheet 13, which have been caused to curlslightly upwardly due to the initial playing therealong'of flames from the lower row of nozzles 32. As the edge portions of the sheets are advanced further past the-impinging flames from the burner element 29,

the edge portions of the uppermost sheet 11, which have saggeddownwardly onto those of the intermediate sheet 12, will be further causedto sag toward the lowermost sheet 13- under the influence of the flames from the intermediate row of nozzles31.

Thus, there is formed adjacent the lowermost sheet an enlarged portion where edge portions ofall three sheets are fused together. the movement of the edge portions past the impinging flames from the burner element 29, the flames from the lower row of nozzles 32 are further played along the within the scopeof' this invention, in order to cause the fusing of the edge portions of the glass sheets in the manner above described. That is, for example, if the thickness of the air spaces between the sheets were to be made considerabl-y'smaller than that shown in Fig. 3, the angular relation of the rows of nozzles might be madecorrespondingly less. In general, however, it is desirable to direct the flames from each of said rows onto the edge portions of the superimposed glass sheets in the manner above described.

After the edge portions ofthe sheets have been scaled together entirely therearound, unit may be rev d rq es a -2.05 A s rdie 'te a y f e r e known methods, the atmosphere in the air spaces 16' and 17 enclosed within said unit may he dehydrated and, if desired, a vacuum created therein. After the air spaces have been prepared, the. dehydration holes 18. and 19 may be hermetically sealed to torm the completely sealed unit.

Itis to be understood that the application of the novel thsd of h s a en n s e s be m d is the rticular embodiment shown herein for producing a three sheet, double air space unit Withincertain practicai Toward the completion oflimits, multiple glazing units having three or more superimposed air spaces may be formed.

. It is to be further understood that the form of the mvention disclosed herein is to be taken as the preferred embodiment thereof, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a method of producing a multiple sheet glazing unit, the steps of mounting three sheets of glass in fixed spaced and face-to-face relation one above another and while maintaining said fixed relationship, bending edge portions of the uppermost of said sheets into fused relation with corresponding portions of the intermediate sheet, and substantially simultaneously bending edge portions of said intermediate sheet into fused relation with corresponding portions of the lowermost of said sheets.

2. In a method of producing a multiple sheet glazing unit, the steps of mounting three sheets of glass .in fixed spaced and face-to-face relation one above the other with edge portions of all but the lowermost sheet projecting outwardly from corresponding portions of the next succeeding lower sheet, moving the corresponding edge portions of said sheets past concentrated heat sources, and while maintaining said fixed relationship, directing flames from said heat sources simultaneously onto each of the sheet edge portions to cause the outwardly projecting edge portions of all but said lowermost sheet to bend into fused relation with corresponding edge portions of the next succeeding lower sheet.

3. In a method of the character defined in claim 2, in which flames from said heat sources are directed sub- 6 stantially vertically onto the edge portions of the uppermost of said sheets and approximately aligned with the edge portion of the lowermost sheet.

4. In a method of the character defined in claim 2, in which flames from said heat sources are directed downwardly toward the edge portions of the intermediate of said sheets and at an angle to the plane of said intermediate sheet.

5. In a method of the character defined in claim 2, in which flames from said heat sources are directed downwardly toward the edge portions of the lowermost of said sheets and at an angle to the plane of said lowermost sheet.

6. In a method of the character defined in claim 2, in which flames are directed substantially vertically onto the edge portions of the uppermost of said sheets as well as toward the edge portions of each of the other sheets and at an angle to the plane of each of said other sheets.

7. In a method of the character defined in claim 6, in which the vertically directed flames are approximately aligned with the edge portions of said lowermost sheets.

8. In a method of the character defined in claim 6, in which said flames are directed onto the edge portions of each of said sheets substantially simultaneously.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,488,351 Kirlin Mar. 13, 1923 1,991,469 Slayter Feb. 19, 1935 2,194,755 Kell Mar. 26, 1940 2,389,360 Guyer et al. Nov. 20, 1945 2,624,979 Clever et al. Jan. 13, 1953 

